Each house will present a team with a total of seven players: 1 keeper, 1 seeker, 2 beaters, and 3 chasers. Teams can be composed of sorted characters as well as NPCs. There is no limit on the number of reserve players a team may have. Quidditch team try-outs begin the second week of term and the games follow the schedule as below. Quidditch Captains are chosen by the respective school's staff; they are responsible for assembling the team and are in charge of house practice sessions and organising their team strategy during the games. Captains may pick a Co-Captain, but are not required to.

Games will be started near the beginning of the playtime month. When the game is finished (i.e. the snitch is caught; or both seekers are knocked out of the game), the game will be closed for voting. Results will be posted before the next game is started.

Each game will have a [GAME] thread. Those interested in having their characters watch a game can start their own [STANDS] thread in the Quidditch Pitch forum. Only team members and the referee may post in the [GAME] thread. If someone not on the team posts in the [GAME] thread, that post will be deleted.

GAMEPLAY

The first team to post in a game starts game play. The game is played in turns of two posts per turn. Two series of turns is known as a round. Each team is allocated 72 hours (3 days) in which to complete their turn. This time is counted from the last post of the opposing team. If more than 72 hours have elapsed and a turn has not been completed, the opposing team can steal the turn.

The Referee will: start the game with an opener (including weather conditions), post any random events, award penalties against IC and OOC fouls, and close the game. Additionally, in the game opener they will roll a die. The result of their die roll will result with a random event that will be included sometime during the game.

At the beginning of each game, the Captain of each team must post their roster for that particular match. This should be posted in the thread during the respective teams' first turn. At the end of the match (as signaled by the referee), both Seekers should post as if they have caught the snitch.

Under no circumstances are you, as a driver, allowed to dictate the outcome of your character's attacking actions. Your character can hit a bludger (if they are a beater), throw the quaffle to a fellow team member or aim at the hoops (chasers), but they cannot say whether or not they were successful in their attacking action. They can state if they were successful in defensive actions. For example:

Red Chaser #1 can aim for the hoops, but cannot dictate if he scored successfully (he may say it was a good or poor throw). His shot can be intercepted by a Green Chaser, or saved by the Green Keeper.

Green Keeper can save the goal, or can allow Red Chaser #1 to score if they think it is more realistic to do so (whether due to their own skill or the skill of the opposing player). Regardless of if they allow or save the goal, Green Keeper can then throw the quaffle to a Green Chaser, however again they cannot dictate if a Green Chaser caught the quaffle. They should specify which Green Chaser they are passing to (i.e. #1, #2, or #3).

Red Beaters can aim a bludger at any Green Player. Only Green Beaters may save their own team members from the bludger. If the Green teams' posts are taken up by, for example, the Green Keeper saving a goal and passing it to Green Chaser #1, who successfully catches the quaffle and passes it to Green Chaser #2, then by default the Red bludger would have hit it's target.

ROSTERS AND POSITIONS

In order to help determine skill levels of players both on your own team and the opposing team, please post your players' stats when posting the team roster. Stats can change from game-to-game (your character may be recovering from an injury, or may have been practicing to improve a certain skill). Stats are a reference point for your fellow Quidditch players to know how likely your Chaser is to dodge a bludger, or catch the quaffle. The scale is 1 (barely able to fly, very weak at hitting bludgers, can't throw to save themselves) to 10 (professional quidditch player standard, best players in the world), with 5 being reasonably skilled (not outstanding, but above average).

Beaters must explicitly mention if they are defending another player on their team. When aiming a bludger, its target needs to be stated in the post. If a bludger is fired at an opposing player and it is not dodged or defended in the next turn, that player is automatically hit. Only one bludger may be played per turn.

Chasers must clearly state where they are targeting the quaffle (if it is to a teammate, must state who). If a goal shot is made, the chaser must specify which goal hoop they are aiming for (left, right, or middle).

Keepers may not post in two consecutive turns. A keeper may pass the quaffle to a chaser after making a save.

Only Seekers may handle the snitch. The snitch may not be caught before the referee makes a post giving permission to do so. Once this post has been made, both seekers should post as if they have caught the snitch for voting purposes. As soon as the seeker posts are made, the game is over and closed for voting. If a seeker fails to make their post within 72 hours from receiving referee permission, then they forfeit and the other team automatically catches the snitch. If both seekers fail to post within 72 hours then neither team catches the snitch and the game totals are calculated without the snitch-bonus.

SCORING, PENALTIES, AND VOTING

Once the game is finished, the administration team will read over the entire thread and vote on several things: best seeker post, team performance, and player of the match. Team performance will earn a team additional points ranging from 10 - 100 points. Best Seeker post earns their team 150 points. Player of the match adds a 10 point bonus. Each post made by a team counts for 10 points in addition to any goals or penalties scored during the game. The team with the highest score wins the game.

Each time a character or a driver violates Magical Hogwarts or Quidditch rules, a penalty shot is awarded to the opposing team. In-character fouls may also incur a penalty. During these instances, the team Captain designates one player on their team to take the penalty shot. Penalty posts are additional to the usual posting schedule, i.e. if the Red Team have just finished their turn, Green Team get their penalty post + their 2 standard posts.

If a driver consistently breaks MH rules they will be removed from the team.

WEATHER CONDITIONS AND RANDOM EVENTS

The Referee will describe the weather conditions at the beginning of each match. Games are played in all conditions. Referees will also post any random events as determined by the dice roll in the game opener (the random event can occur at any time). If the random event affects only 1 player, the next player to post is affected. If it affects the whole team, or both teams, each player should respond accordingly in their next post. Potential random events are:

1. Strong gust of wind blows player off course2. Player's broom malfunctions3. Rogue Bludger focusing on one player only4. Rogue Bludger focusing on one team only5. Player's foot slips out of stirrup

6. Bird flies into player, winding them7. Bug flies into player's eye or mouth, or up their nose8. 9. 10.

s c h o o l q u i d d i t c h s c h e d u l e

Not all matches will be played out. For matches that are not played scores will be determined by dice rolls and coin tosses, taking into account House activity and number of players signed up to House Teams.